Blog Stats

epiphany

My deal is that I’m constantly trying to improve myself. Seems great. Except that I’m all about the books and podcasts and blogs and Instagram motivational pictures, and all that stuff. But I’m a little light on the actual… improvement. I know what I need to do. I just don’t do it. I came to the firm conclusion that I just don’t want to change. I was listening to Tony Robbins and he made an excellent point. Change doesn’t actually take a long time. Preparation for change takes a long time. It takes years of fighting with diets without losing any weight. Because you don’t really follow them. But at some point, in an instant moment, you just finally decide that you’re going to get healthy. And you do. And it wasn’t the years of working on change that did it. It was the instantaneous decision that this time it was for real and you really were going to pursue your health.

So my assumption was that this invariably was the result of an epiphany moment. That moment when suddenly everything in your life became crystal clear. You saw your true purpose and the clear path to pursue it. Your calling in life is revealed to you. And motivation is no longer an issue because you’ve had this epiphany. And from that moment on, everything was different. Smooth sailing. Almost effortless because your goals and mission and purpose were suddenly aligned.

Oh, and that’s not something you create. It’s something that happens TO YOU. And it comes from God. So I would pray for it. A lot. And I would hear stories about other people having these epiphany moments. And I’d wish I could have one. And I’d pray for one. A lot.

And I wouldn’t get one. Like… ever. Nope. No epiphany moment. No swinging wide the floodgates of change. Nothing.

Epiphany denied.

I was sitting in church a couple of weeks ago and it hit me. I’m never going to get one. Other people get one because it’s right for them. God knows them perfectly and knows they will change their lives based on that epiphany. But he knows me too. And he knows that he could toss an epiphany at me and I’d squander it. I’m not saying that to be down on myself. It doesn’t make me a bad person. It just means I’m not someone who instantly turns their life around on a dime because of an epiphany event. So why would God give one to me?

So I figured God has stuck me into this life that I’m in and has given me a healthy dose of dissatisfaction. Not because my life is bad. But because I know I could bring more to my life and those around me than I do. That type of dissatisfaction. It’s a healthy type of dissatisfaction. And I have a lot of it. But I just never seem to take the action needed satisfy it.

Work is an excellent example. I have a great job, but I don’t make my production goals on a daily basis. Often I miss them by a lot. In prior jobs I would excel to a point based on people liking me. (Who wouldn’t?? I’m fantastic.) But at some point the extent to which people like you fades into the background and you need to produce. And I wouldn’t produce. And it would be time to move on. I’d be smart enough to see it coming and I’d bail and look for a new job and I’d get one, and often a better one. I moved up and up and up. And finally I was fired from a sales job because I just wasn’t hitting my production. It finally caught up to me. So I left an entire industry this time and went to law school. And I did well. But after a while the production slid, but I was able to hide again and I pulled through with decent grades. On to being a lawyer.

And then I get this job as a lawyer. The same one I have now. Ten years. That’s a long time for a guy who has production issues. Why hasn’t this one blown up yet? Even though year after year I’ve missed my mark? Because my employer has made the decision to stick with me. And I’ve given them plenty of reasons to bail on me. But they just refuse. To be honest, there have been times that I wish they would have fired me. Because then I could replace my anger with myself around production with anger at them for firing me. And I could hide from it again. Start fresh. Again.

But they just won’t do it. Even worse, they keep giving me greater incentive to stay. Better benefits. Good raises. What is the deal?

And I have figured it out. This is the ultimate denial of an epiphany, and a denial of my ability to hide my weakness on production. None of my excuses work any more. And running on personality alone ran dry years ago. It’s been a decade. And they’ve turned the heat up. I have to produce this year. Time is up. And I am. I’m finally producing the quality and quantity of work that I’ve been capable of all along.

So why go through all this personal story. The point I guess I’m trying to make is that God knows us better than we know ourselves. When I was asking for an epiphany I didn’t really want one. It would be more accurate to say that I just wanted God to solve this production issue for me. I’d rather not develop myself. Let’s just have God wave his wand and fix me all up. Nothing required from me before.

I know God pretty well and that just not usually how he works. At least not in my life. My struggle and journey to solve this central problem in my life has taught me everything about myself. It’s actually forced me to accept that there are things that are RIGHT about me, where I normally prefer to just focus on everything that is wrong. It was the equivalent of God being the best friend that shoves you out onto the dance floor in high school because he knows you can dance if you’ll just quit talking yourself out of it.

Not really super organized thoughts or lessons on this post, I suppose. But I’m feeling grateful for a God who denies us the very thing we want the most because he knows us better than we know ourselves. And I’m thankful that I don’t leave work feeling like crap about myself every day. This life is a pretty good life. I suppose that’s about all that’s on my mind today.